Bombay Stock Exchange building in Mumbai. file | photo credit: Reuters
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended marginally lower in highly volatile trade on Thursday due to losses at Larsen & Toubro and cautious trade ahead of the release of domestic inflation data.
After hitting the crucial 62,000 mark in early deals, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 35.68 points or 0.06% lower at 61,904.52. It touched a low of 61,823.07 and a high of 62,168.22 in the day’s trade.
The NSE Nifty closed 18.10 points, or 0.10%, down at 18,297.
Among Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro declined over 5% after the firm said its non-executive chairman AM Naik has decided to step down.
ITC, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services were the other laggards.
However, Asian Paints was the top gainer after reporting a 43.97% rise in consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter at ₹1,258.41 crore, up 3.22%.
Hindustan Unilever, NTPC, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement and Maruti gained.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “Gains in the domestic market were capped by weak earnings reported by some heavyweights. Investors say the Fed’s rate hike measures will help manage inflation levels.” Markets in Asia, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong closed lower while Tokyo closed in the green.
Europe’s markets were trading in the green mark. On Wednesday, the US market closed mostly in the negative range.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Wednesday as they bought equities worth Rs 1,833.13 crore, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.93% to $77.12 per barrel.
On Wednesday, the BSE benchmark had climbed 178.87 points, or 0.29%, to close at 61,940.20. The Nifty closed at 18,315.10, up 49.15 points or 0.27%.